Ok, so I was wondering which characters do you think are priority targets for Cloud the Mind. Yesterday, I CtM’ed Miya Satoshi, and my opponent was more than baffled that I “wasted” it on him, instead of Moto Juro. I thought Satoshi was a better target so he cannot use his cycling ability.

So I’m looking for a list with maybe the three or four (or whatever you want) top targets by clan, and even neutrals. And as a bonus, the most eligible character to be CtM’ed in the entire game.

Depends.

Without knowing anything else, I'd probably be more worried about Juro, but, if you had no way of answering Cavalry Reserves then you don't want him filling his discard. Or if you want to discourage him from building up a strong political threat to challlenge you politically. Hard to say what is the right play without knowing more.

Generally the character that your opponent invests heavily in or has an ability that poses the biggest immediate threat is the right call.

CtM is an incredibly powerful card but it's also a very circumstantial card. It's not particularly expensive in terms of Fate cost but the opportunity cost can be enormous. When considering who to play CtM on the main considerations are:

Does the character have an ability worth blanking?

This should be obvious but it's so important that it needs to be addressed first. Some abilities are more worthwhile than others. Akodo Toturi, for example, may seem like a great target but only if he's ready to attack Military. If he's defending or engaged in a political conflict this is a worthless blank. Now obviously one wouldn't play CtM on Toturi under those conditions, but by blanking him I'm telling my opponent that the choice about whether to use Toturi on offense or defense got a lot simpler.

How long will the character be around?

Obviously playing CtM on a character with 3 Fate will give you more benefit than a character with 0 Fate. That doesn't always mean to play it on the 3 Fate target - maybe it's really important to blank that 0 Fate guy for one turn (I've definitely used it on characters pulled back with a Shosuro Actress) but make sure you're getting your value out of it.

What meta does your opponent have?

While anti-attachment meta isn't quite as prevalent now as it was in core - now that you don't have 56% of players splashing Dragon and getting free Let Go's - it's still there. Has your opponent demonstrated the ability to move or remove attachments? Will they be able to quickly remove CtM? If so, maybe you hold onto it until you've baited out more of their attachment meta. Or maybe you play it to bait out that meta so you can play other attachments you care about more (hello Stone of Sorrows). CtM is a good solution to a lot of problems, but consider how your opponent can work around it.

What workarounds do you have?

Is CtM really necessary? Playing CtM on Hida Kisada is generally a good play - his ability is incredibly frustrating, Crab have lots of tricks to keep him around even without any Fate, etc. - but there are two easy workarounds with Kisada. If you can win a conflict or have easy actions to burn (I like bowing Jade Masterpiece when I don't actually care about moving Fate) then it may be best to hold onto that CtM for a better target. On the other hand, if you need your actions to win that first conflict, it may be best to spend the CtM now.

In the game you described, I can easily see CtM being a great choice. If Unicorn had an empty discard pile, being able to prevent it from filling with Keepers and Cavalry could be a fantastic decision. On the other hand, I can see your opponent not seeing that or not expecting you to see it and thus being surprised by the choice.

That said, I'd have probably gone for Juro.

Miya Satoshi. Then the rest of the world.

In general I only ever want to cloud guys if it makes them bad. Totori still has 6 attack if you cloud him. But spirit caller becomes really bad. Can't forget you're spending a resource and a card to cloud someone. Tskune and Witchunter are great targets. Kisada not so much imo

15 hours ago, Tabris2k said:

So I’m looking for a list with maybe the three or four (or whatever you want) top targets by clan, and even neutrals. And as a bonus, the most eligible character to be CtM’ed in the entire game.

A definitive answer to your question may lead you down the wrong path. Cloud the Mind is situational based on the board state when used. What if an attached Pacifism is sufficient to nerf a top 3 character into uselessness? What if I want Yogo Hiroue to harpoon a character because I have a trick up my sleeve?

Thank you all for the answers.

I know CtM depends a lot on board state. It was just this conversation I had with my Unicorn opponent and I wanted to see what were the thoughts about this from L5R community.

I meant those characters that you’re hoping to get a CtM for before they show up, or those who makes you think things like “Well, of course CtMing Kisada now will save me a lot of trouble, but I only have one left, and I know he got another Witch Hunter there, so I’ll just play around Kisada and save that CtM”

For example, in my local meta, if I’m playing against Lion, I’m gonna save (at least) one CtM for the Spiritcaller almost always, no matter how tempting others targets can be.

Very situational but since the Imperal cycle caused Dragon not to be the only splash, Let Go is less common. So because of that, Cloud can be absolutely crushing to your opponent. Fantastic card and I really want that alt art!!

I thoroughly enjoy Clouding Adept of Shadows. My Scorpion buddy has gotten more mileage out of her than I'd care to admit.

Yokuni (I almost called him Satsu!) is a fine, fine target too, IMHO.

15 minutes ago, twinstarbmc said:

Yokuni (I almost called him Satsu!) is a fine, fine target too, IMHO.

Clouding Yokuni is very good, specially because he can copy the ability of a character that you already clouded (which makes him a soft counter for CtM), but you also have to time it well, because if he already copied someone’s ability, he don’t lose it when you cloud him, so he get to use it at least once.

6 minutes ago, Tabris2k said:

Clouding Yokuni is very good, specially because he can copy the ability of a character that you already clouded (which makes him a soft counter for CtM), but you also have to time it well, because if he already copied someone’s ability, he don’t lose it when you cloud him, so he get to use it at least once.

True. But once is better than repeatedly.